Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

Please note: My intent is to get a queue of questions for the next several months, so it may be some time before your submission is posted. If you would like me to email my response so you don’t have to wait until your question is posted, let me know!

Ash says:

Hey Maria!

I have another question for you! And guess what?! It’s about washing diapers of course! So I’ve been using cloth diapers on my daughter for about 4.5 months now and am always curious as to what other Mama’s routines are for after they change their baby’s diaper. Do you take your sons diapers and just dump them in the diaper pail after changing him or do you rinse them first? What is your routine? And do you ever feel the need to soak the dirty diapers after you get everything off of them to help get the stains out or do you just let them get some sun after washing them?

Hi Ash! I know everyone seems to do things differently, but here’s what I do: If the diaper is just wet, I pull the insert out with the wipe, fold the laundry tabs in (if it’s velcro) ball it up and toss it in my hanging wet bag/pail.

If it’s dirty, I flip the poop in the potty and follow the same routine. If it’s really messy (like we’ve been dealing with after too many blueberries!) I will flip off as much as I can first. Since I’m not washing every day anymore, I will then either spray the diaper off in my laundry room utility sink, or if I have several, I’ll do a rinse & spin in the washer. I don’t like to let diapers sit with poop on them. A diaper sprayer will take care of it too, but I never got around to getting one, and since I’m through the messy stuff for the most part, I haven’t bothered. When he was still mostly breasfed, I didn’t rinse at all!

I don’t soak them or add anything to them, aside from when I use RLR every few months. I don’t have any major issues with stains; I find that light stains fade with subsequent washes.

That said, the aftermath of blueberry-gate 2010 left me with some staining! My first try at sunning my diapers had me sold. They weren’t in direct sun very long, not long enough to completely dry them, yet the stains nearly disappeared!

How about you, readers? What do you do?

Pamela says:

My very first cloth diaper purchase was a half dozen Bum Genius 3.0 OS diapers which are still my favorites and have fit my son through thick and thin (literally). But, 18 months later, the time has come to repair the laundry tabs and aplix closures. I bought the repair kits, and they have been sitting next to my sewing kit for almost a month – just daring me to give this a try. I’m terrified that I’m going to ruin one of my beloved BGs. Any experience and tips?

Thanks!

PamelaI haven’t repaired any of mine, though I have a few that need it! I think this tutorial on P.S. house is great! I’m going to have to replace some of them soon. I did get two replaced under warranty, but the others aren’t bad enough yet, and my warranty expires in about 5 or 6 weeks. I don’t have a sewing machine; my Mom has an old and no-so-great one, but I’m thinking it might actually be easier to do it by hand. Eek!

How about my readers, anyone replaced the velcro on their Bumgenius?

P.S. I’d love to have a guest post with a step by step tutorial for replacing velcro and/or doing a snap conversion. Shoot me an email if you’re interested. I’d like original material only, which wouldn’t be reposted elsewhere.

Maria is the mother of 3, writing about cloth diapers & going green. You'll often find her with a dog or child on her lap, typing 1-handed in between sips of cold coffee.
Maria works with many companies within the cloth diaper industry and beyond, providing social media management, product development, and other services.

>I have a 22 month old. If it's a lump with little 'after effect' on the diaper, I just toss it in the pail. If it's smeared all over God's green earth or pnutbtr consistency, then I'll use the diaper sprayer. Without one, dunk in the toilet. I dunked for a long time and never really had stains period until we changed water systems/houses. Sun doesn't seem to help my microfiber much, but it did help the BG elemental, which is organic cotton, I think.

>Regarding replacing the velcro/elastic of your BG, it's pretty easy, just takes practice, and plan for it taking alot of time! You don't need a sewing machine but you can use a sewing machine to sew the velcro tabs and laundry tabs on, it is helpful (though I never got it as perfect as I thougth I could!). That part is very easy and pretty quick! Just make sure not to tear your BG when seam ripping the velcro tabs off, and don't take off the laundry tabs, sew the new ones over the old ones! Replacing the the elastic is a bit more tricky and takes the most time. Once you figure out exactly where to cut in (i.e. where the elastic ends on both ends) you can estimate better whre to cut in to remove the old elastic and sew in the new stuff. Over all it's not hard, just an annoying pain in the butt! I've done 6 repairs and have a dozen left to go or so! Maria, if you are interested in doing a review of BG elastic and velcro repair I still have a ton of diapers that need repair and I have the repair kits! I can ship you one of them to repair with the repair kit if you can give me/my blog credit and somehow get me more traffic! 🙂 Please email me at mphin278 at yahoo dot com to discuss details!

Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 13, 9 and 6-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. Read More »